dynamically setting report bitmap image file pointer

[Mike Wilson]

I have a quoting system for international sales. I have 2 Price Schedule reports, one for metric and one for SAE, that contain 36 bitmap objects for the currency symbol the user selects in the sequence of generating a Price Schedule report. The bitmap objects are named "bitmap_01" through "bitmap_36". This is a multiple user app, so I have a folder - USERS - containing subfolders named for each user (their system login username), each containing a file named - currency_symbol.bmp. When the user selects the country for the currency symbol for the report, the selected country's currency symbol is copied to their folder file - currency_symbol.bmp. The literal filename currently for all 36 bitmap objects on the reports is [PathAlias.ADB_Path]\Currency_symbol.bmp. This points to a dummy file so the report has a file to "see" when it is opened, otherwise an error fires. Then I have the report OnPrintInit event loop through each bitmap object on the report and change the the filename pointer to the users currency file using the following UDF:

FUNCTION proj_prcs_rprt_bmp_set AS C (report_type as C)

' This function contains the parameter for the report type , either metric or SAE
' This allows for any variances in the number of BMP objects between the report types if needed later 
' This addresses the proper number of BMP_xx objects within the specific report and 
'   dynamically changes  the report bmp object filenames to be pointed to the selected
'   USER\currency_symbol.bmp image through the global variable vg_rep_curr_symbl_file 
'   created in the Price Schedule sequence calling script - currency_select_dlg()

	dim vn_bmp_count as n
	dim vbmpw as C
	dim vreport as C
	
	if report_type="SAE"
		vn_bmp_count=36
		vreport="r_proj_prices_SAE"
	else
		vn_bmp_count=36
		vreport="r_proj_prices_metric"
	end if
	
	for i = 1 to vn_bmp_count
		vbmpw=padl(alltrim(str(i)),2,"0")
		evaluate_template(":"+vreport+":Bitmap_"+vbmpw+".bitmap.filename = "+quote(vg_rep_curr_symbl_file))
	next

END FUNCTION

This works fine, so far, but i have these questions:
1) in multiuser environment, will there be a conflict with the report pointing the bmp files to a common dummy bmp file when two users simultaneously open the same report?
2) Is there a more robust, easier, more elegant-preferable method to accomplish this?

Thanks

[Tom Henkel]

Re: dynamically setting report bitmap image file pointer

Mike,

What if, instead of doing it on the onprintinit, you do a file copy BEFORE you run the report. I and guessing you initiate the report from a button. In that script, do a file.copy from the currency bitmap to the dummy bitmap within the user's folder.

Tom

[Mike Wilson]

Re: dynamically setting report bitmap image file pointer

Tom,
that is what happens. the report bitmaps can only point to one file, and the path for each user folder is different.

[Tom Henkel]

Re: dynamically setting report bitmap image file pointer

What I'm saying is to copy the country currency bitmap into the specific user folder and name it the generic bitmap name. The report points to that file, which should have been initialized to the appropriate currency by the script BEFORE the print is initiated.

I'm not in the office now, but tomorrow, I'll give an example of what we do to display specific photos and signatures in an on_fetch event of a form.

Tom

[Tom Henkel]

Re: dynamically setting report bitmap image file pointer

Mike,

We print employee badges using photos and signatures captured into .jpg images on one of our servers.

On each badge, there are 2 bitmap fields 1 for the photo and 1 for the signature.
When we go to print the badges, we use the on_print_inti event to make sure we have the appropriate photo and badge. this is the code:

'Date Created: 15-Mar-2005 04:04:52 PM
'Last Updated: 12-Mar-2012 03:00:03 PM
'Created By  : Tom Henkel
'Updated By  : Thomas Henkel
dim global badgeno as N
dim filename1 as C
filename1 = "G:\bcbss\PHOTO"+CHR(92)+alltrim(str(BADGENO))+".JPG"
sigfile = "S:"+CHR(92)+alltrim(str(BADGENO))+"s.JPG"
IF FILE.EXISTS(filename1)
	bitmap6.bitmap.filename = filename1
  ELSE
  	bitmap6.bitmap.filename = "G:\bcbss\photo\not_avail.jpg"
END IF
IF FILE.EXISTS(sigfile)
	bitmap1.bitmap.filename = sigfile
  ELSE
  	bitmap1.bitmap.filename = "G:\bcbss\PHOTO\blanksig.jpg"
END IF

Bitmap 6 is the photo and bitmap1 is the signature. If we don't find either we set the bitmap field to a default. the default is set to a blank image file.

This is the layout:
badge.jpg

Hopefully this will help.

Tom

[Mike Wilson]

Re: dynamically setting report bitmap image file pointer

Thanks Tom,
your code and my code are both doing basically exactly the same thing, setting the bitmap objects file name dynamically in the OnPrintInit report event. Thanks, confirms this is a valid and useable strategy.

[Tom Henkel]

Re: dynamically setting report bitmap image file pointer

My initial response was for a form, sorry I sent confusing messages.

This is the code I put into the on_fetch event of a form that displays employee info along with their photo. This code retrieves the appropriate photo.
(th is a pointer to the current "workers" table)

G_EMP = table.open("g:\bcbss\employee\g_employ.dbf",FILE_RO_SHARED)
g_emp.index_primary_put("Emp_ID")
found = G_EMP.fetch_find(tc.Emp_ID)
if found >0
	badgeno = G_EMP.badge_no
	dim Shared pict AS C
	pict = alltrim(str(badgeno,9,0))
	bmpfile = "g:\bcbss\photo"+chr(92)+trim(pict)+".jpg"
		
	if .not.file_exists(bmpfile) then
		bmpfile = "g:\bcbss\photo"+chr(92)+"not_avail.jpg"
	end if
  else
  	bmpfile = "g:\bcbss\photo"+chr(92)+"not_avail.jpg"
end if
g_emp.close()

Tom